Giorgio Armani: SWOT analysis Essay

In the competitive world of fashion design, Giorgio Armani and Stella McCartney are examples of those that have made it globally in the industry. Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer born in 1934. Armani Company was founded in 1974 and by 2001 he was acclaimed as the most successful Italian designer with a personal fortune of over 4 billion dollars (Krebs, 2007). The company designs and manufactures a variety of products that include fashion accessories, cosmetics, jewellery, eyewear, watches, fragrances and many more.

Up to date he has over 13 factories all over the world and nearly 300 stores in 36 countries (Informat, 2007) Stella McCartney is an English fashion designer born in 1971 in London. She studied fashion design in college in early 1990’s and her collections in 1995 were modelled by supermodels like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. She was appointed chief designer of Paris house called Chloe in 1997 and left in 2001 to enter into a joint venture with Gucci group. Her first products shop opened in New York in 2003 and spread to London, and Los Angeles (Informat, 2007). Since then she is steady in the industry.

A SWOT ANALYSIS WITH AN OBJECTIVE OF: To create

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a strategic marketing plan with a management focus. 1. INTERNAL FACTORS a) Strengths i) Giorgio Armani – Was formed in 1974 and already enjoys a rising and steady market. – It designs and manufactures a variety of products like jewellery, cosmetics and others which have a well established market (Davis, 2001). – It Styled up Richard Gere in the 1980 film ‘American Gigolo’ earning it great publicity. – Has superb Market performance with access to quality resources for production. – Has a good management that controls its business investments all over the world

– Boosts of a good reputation since it started operating in many countries. – Has high quality products with clothes made out of the finest fabrics and materials. ii) Stella McCartney – Enjoys vibrant talent that has developed with time. – has Experience growing from collaborations with big companies like Gucci – Enjoys fame especially after modelling supermodels like Campbell and Kate Moss (Informat, 2007). – Awarded the VHI/Vogue Fashion and Music 2000 Designer of the year award. b) Weaknesses i) Giorgio Armani – High operational costs in many stores and factories worldwide

– Management strain with the growing number of workers worldwide. – High product costs that limit potential customers – Lack of specialization and dealing with many products at once (Davis, 2001). ii) Stella McCartney – High operation costs that hamper worldwide development of the products. – Costly products those are only affordable by few. – Limited market experience since products have not been in the market for long 2. EXTERNAL FACTORS c) Opportunities i) Giorgio Armani – Ever growing international market for the products produced (Informat, 2007).

– Reliable administration and manufacturers that help in production of new products. – Improved technological advancement that enables production of high quality products. – Minimal international trade barriers that can enable the company to expand even more. ii) Stella McCartney – A growing number of unfulfilled customer needs that provide extra market. – Growing public admiration that can influence market for the products. – Changing market trends that accommodate new products in the market. – Improved supply systems that can enable producers reach a worldwide market easily.

d) Threats i) Giorgio Armani – Emerging competing companies with more affordable substitute products – Increased taxation from various worldwide markets that can lower free market access. – Ever changing market trends that can affect production rate. – Growing political unrests in various countries that limit worldwide marketing ii) Stella McCartney – Growing number of other competing products in the market. – Slow expansion of the market to other countries due to cultural diversity. – Criticism from outsiders on the ability of the management to steer the company further.